When Ziva brought the car to a stop, she and Tim could already see that, beyond the treeline, there were people in the area shown on the map. They had found the correct location. But was Gibbs there?

Tim pulled out a pair of binoculars and began to study the distance intently. When his gaze fell on Gibbs, on his knees in front of one of his captors, he gasped.

"What is it, McGee?" Ziva asked, grabbing the binoculars from Tim's hand.

"They've got Gibbs. He's here. And alive," Tim filled in, then continued muttering the part he didn't really want to voice, "if that's what you want to call it."

"Come on!"

Ziva allowed the binoculars to fall, the strap securing them to her neck. She pulled her gun from its holster and began to stealthily move into the trees. Tim followed, careful to make as little noise as possible.

"Three," Ziva said almost too softly to be heard. She nodded her head in the direction of the two men on either side of the clearing, guarding the area for the third man who stood before Gibbs.

Tim nodded in agreement and began to make his way toward the man nearest them. Ziva switched her focus between the man on the far side of the clearing and the one directly in front of Gibbs. She waited until Tim reached his target to make her move.

Ziva watched as Tim almost soundlessly pulled his target into the trees. Placing his right hand over the man's weapon, he wrapped his left arm around his neck in a half nelson.

After making certain the third guard was not paying attention, Ziva took action. She stepped, unnoticed, behind the man in front of Gibbs and placed the barrel of her gun to the back of his head.

"Not a word," she whispered menacingly. "NCIS. Drop your weapon," she ordered.

He placed his gun carefully onto the ground beside him. Ziva used her foot to knock it away from him. She made eye contact with Gibbs, and tried to reassure him. It was difficult to see him in this condition.

His initial target subdued, Tim stepped out of the trees. The man on the ground in front of Ziva suddenly shouted, "Ambush!"

Ziva lunged and took down the man, wrestling him to the ground. The third guard, however, was taking aim. Tim started running toward him, as he was too distant to get a shot at him.

The crack of gunfire and sight of the muzzle flash from the man's gun nearly stopped Tim's heart. He saw Ziva fall back, the white ground around her already beginning to be stained red.

"Ziva!" Tim screamed, "Noooooooooo!"

***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS*** NCIS***

Tim didn't allow the circumstances to knock him off course. As soon as he was in range, he raised his weapon and shouted at the man to surrender. The man turned and ran. Tim fired, but missed.

"I am okay," Ziva shouted. "Catch him!"

With one backward glance toward Ziva and Gibbs, Tim gave chase.

Ziva had not been hit. The blood was not hers; it was the man with whom she had been wrestling. She checked for a pulse and found none.

"He's dead," she announced.

Ziva immediately moved to Gibbs' side and began freeing him from his bonds. She pulled out her cell phone and called Abby, telling her they had Gibbs and requesting an ambulance be sent to their location. Ziva disconnected before Abby could ask any questions.

"The question is, did he shoot his boss on purpose, or was it accidental?" Ziva asked, again marveling at the fortuitous way the events had gone down.

A ragged voice answered from her left. "Neither. His shot went wild. I took out Groce," Tony said, as he struggled to catch his breath and staggered into the clearing.

"Tony!" Ziva exclaimed, rushing to his side. She propped him up as best as possible and assisted him, as he made his way to sit on the snowy ground next to Gibbs.

"I was at NCIS, and everyone had taken off. I had started remembering bits and pieces, and then…it all just came back. I remembered that I was supposed to bring information to them here or they would kill you. I didn't have the info, but I couldn't just not show up," Tony explained, not taking his eyes off Gibbs.

"Why didn't you tell someone you were coming?" Ziva scolded him. "You are in no condition to…"

"There was no one in the room and I didn't have time to waste," Tony said. "Period. I made it. Gibbs is fine. You are fine. Probie is fine. We caught the bad guys. Happy ending, Zee-vah."

"Yeah, with you back in the hospital next to Gibbs," Ziva muttered.

"Next to Tony sounds good to me," Gibbs said gruffly. "Thanks for having my back."

"Always," Tony blushed. "Boss, you have to know, I never would have…" Tony began explaining.

"I know, DiNozzo," Gibbs interrupted. "No need for the words. I know."

At that time, Tim stepped into the clearing, leading in a man in hand cuffs as well as several members of SWAT and a crew of paramedics.

"Caught him," Tim explained. "Wouldn't have, though, except someone disabled their van," he said with a pointed look at Tony.

"Yeah, I came in that way. Yanked some wires from the distributor cap," Tony answered.

"Where's the other one?" Gibbs asked.

"Over in the trees. I secured him earlier," Tim filled in.

"Should've waited for SWAT," Gibbs shook his head. "Too risky."

"Nothing is too risky when your life is at stake," Tim didn't back down from Gibbs' hard gaze.

"Thanks, Tim," Gibbs said, his expression softening. "Ziva," he turned his attention to her, but said no more. He ran his hand down her cheek and smiled.